Pages

Friday, March 25, 2011

I have a bit of a book addiction and in order to keep from using money that could be used for other things, like food, for example, I use the library. A lot. I also get books for free from publishers in exchange for posting reviews. One of my books was A Parenting Guide for Families of Children with Disabilities: Developing Social Skills Towards Independent Living. I've already written the required review, but I wanted to share this book with you. It was written with a wide range of physical and developmental disabilities in mind, but really, except for one or two points, it could have been written specifically for kids and young adults with Asperger's. It's vague enough that you can easily apply the concepts to your family, but detailed enough that you actually know what you're trying to do.

It has four different sections, each with a worksheet-type page at the end on which to write your family's goals. The first section is First Impressions, dealing with personal hygiene. The second is Behaviors, like facial expression and personal space. The third is Verbal Communication, including listening (if your Aspie is anything like mine, the trick is getting him to stop talking about Pokemon or dinosaurs long enough to listen to someone else) and phone skills. The fourth is Daily Living and Community Skills, like shopping, banking, and problem solving.

As with pretty much any book, you take what you need from it and leave the rest. This book will be a big help for me and I hope it helps someone else out, too.